Birth Throes
by Miao Cai
Summary: After a seclusive life and a life in the Shu government, Zhuge Liang is tired and wants to have a son. Yue Ying soon decides she's ready too, but question is, is Zhuge Liang? Lady Mi and Lady Gan are back! Zhuge Liang x Yue Ying. FINAL PART UP!
1. Introduction

_I've had this idea in my head since Divine White Dragon xD I'll still update that, along with this story. Please ignore the length of this chapter; it's only the introduction._

_Read and Review!_

Birth Throes - Introduction

Disclaimer – I do not own Dynasty Warriors. This accounts for all chapters.

Yue Ying stared up at the sky, inhaling the night air deeply.

"You know, despite the war and crimes going on, the kingdom can be really peaceful at night."

She ran her finger in circles around Zhuge Liang's chest.

"I think so too."

The whole day was exhausting. The couple was running back and forth in the castle, dealing with matters public or private. There was one man who complained his wife was cheating on him with his brother, which Zhuge Liang confirmed. He ordered the man's wife and brother exiled to the regions of what we know of as Tibet. There was another case that Yue Ying had solved; there was a woman complaining that her physician was giving her medicines to kill her. After further investigation, it turned out that that woman was just trying to set the man up since she had a grudge against him in her childhood years.

It was the first time in a long time, in fact, Zhuge Liang and Yue Ying had the night to themselves. It was nice to have all these things between them so then when they were united it felt so much better than the seclusive life.

In fact, what Yue Ying had said was true. Despite all the war the kingdom of Shu-Han was very peaceful.

Zhuge Liang knew so, but there was something missing. Maybe it was the satisfaction that only a certain someone could give.

"I want to have a son."


	2. Chapter 1: Maturity and Youthfullness

_Sorry for taking so long. I couldn't find a way to continue past Yue Ying's and Lady Mi & Gan's conversation. _

_Enjoy, R&R!_

Birth Throes - Chapter 1 – Maturity and Youthfulness in One

Lady Mi and Lady Gan, Liu Bei's two wives, were in the middle of their breakfast when a distressed Yue Ying had passed them. Lady Mi and Lady Gan had a certain routine they would use on anyone and everyone; they would always appear uninterested so then it seems the person who needs to talk seems desperate. They had special routines with in fact, almost everything.

"I need help." Yue Ying sat down on her little table, filling a cup with warm tea.

Lady Mi and Lady Gan ignored her, gossiping as usual.

Yue Ying stared up at the two women, who appeared clueless. "Mi! Gan!"

Lady Mi and Lady Gan looked over at Yue Ying. They seemed to have one mind. "Huang!"

Giving a sarcastic look, Yue Ying replied, "Ha, ha. Listen, I really need your help. There's something Liang wants that I'm not sure I can provide . . ."

"Will she ever stop talking like that?" Lady Gan muttered to her sister-in-law.

Lady Mi shrugged to Gan and then answered to Yue Ying, "What does he want? He doesn't seem like the man to ask for too much . . . no, he, really, only takes what he needs _to survive_; he never asks Lord Liu for any extra money or clothing. What can he possibly want?"

Lady Gan always had a perverted mind. "Mi, you know what he wants." And turning to Yue Ying, she said, "Why don't you just give it to him? You know you want it too!"

Yue Ying's face turned red. "What? No, not that! I'm talking about a son! Liang wants to have a son!"

"Oh, it's the second thing a man wants," Lady Gan whispered.

Yue Ying blew the surface of her drink, cooling it and continued, "I don't know what made him think of this so suddenly. I mean, he's never really mentioned children before . . . I don't know if I'm ready to have one. Lady Gan, you went through this. What did you do?"

"It wasn't exactly the same," Lady Gan answered. "I knew Lord Liu Bei had to have an heir, so if he died . . . so that's why I gave birth to Liu Chan, but he seems really incompetent, so that's why I also say he's Mi's son."

"So that's where it stared!" Lady Mi glared at Gan, who continued eating regularly. Lady Gan would always do something to Lady Mi, which none minded, not even Lady Mi herself.

"What can I do?" Yue Ying asked, setting her cup down, her eyes closed from fatigue. "He said it so suddenly and out of nowhere . . . and a few minutes after it went to our room to sleep. He usually just does that when he wants to think. Before he sleeps, he always thinks . . . too hard."

"I see you have been too," Lady Mi observed.

"Yes, it is visible isn't it?" Yue Ying rubbed her eyes, stretching her arms and back. "What should I do?"

"That would depend," Lady Gan answered, taking a bite. "What do you think of sons?"

She shrugged. "If he's filial and all that . . . I guess I wouldn't mind too much . . ."

Lady Mi continued Gan's questions: "And what do you think of the Prime Minister?"

"I love him, but he brought up the topic so suddenly-"

"Forget that," Lady Mi interrupted. "What do you think of the Prime Minister?"

" . . . I love him."

"Do you want to show him this?" Lady Gan took another bite, wiping her mouth clean.

"Yes."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

Yue Ying sipped her tea. "It seems too sudden. It's a confliction of a million emotions at once. I'm wondering why my husband would be thinking so, why he brought it up now, why it had to happen that way . . . I'm confused."

"Well, don't be." Lady Mi shook her head. "You want to please your husband. What else can you do? Do you realize how hard it is to please a man who asks for nothing?"

"That is a point . . ."

"And what will you do when your husband dies and there's no successor?"

"Let's avoid that for now. My husband and I are too young to die." Yue Ying set her cup down again and plopped a cracker into her mouth.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'll put more thought into it," Yue Ying responded. "Part of me is ready to have a son, part of me isn't. I'm sure whatever decision I would make will be reasonable and mature." She stood up and left, leaving her food uneaten.

Lady Mi and Lady Gan exchanged glances.

"It's a _woman_ and _child _in a _woman's_ body!" Lady Mi exclaimed.

"How?"

"The way she talks is mature, but the way she thinks of this is a child's way! Would you think of a woman of this age who wouldn't want to sleep with Zhuge Liang?"

---

Zhuge Liang pulled up the curtains and let the morning sun flow into the room. His mind was on several different topics, one from the thing he said to Yue Ying last night and the other on the many things he would do for the kingdom today. He remembered Liu Bei needed to talk to everyone in Shu to discuss the recent crimes in the capital.

He left his room and started for the "discussion room", ignoring his need to eat. Once he reached the room, he noticed Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were already there, waiting.

"You're late," Liu Bei remarked.

"I know, just a little tired." Zhuge Liang took his regular seat. "So first things first; where is the map I asked Guan Yu to draw up of the recent crimes in the capital?"

"It's right here." Guan Yu pulled out a well-detailed map of Chengdu and handed it to the Prime Minister. "Do you see a chain?"

Zhuge Liang narrowed his eyes and rolled his fingers over the little red 'x's on the map. "All the places they struck . . . all of the signs have the character "good" in it; the character 'good' consists of the characters 'daughter' and 'son' written together. Not only that, they only target larger families, which means they might have something against that, or something stopping them from having a family."

Zhang Fei sat amazed at this. "How did you figure that so fast?"

"That's not important. Point is, they are either all men who couldn't find wives or men, possibly their wives and concubines, who were sterile."

Liu Bei took hold of the map and after examining it, said, "Are we sure yet that these are the same people who robbed the others at first?"

"I'm sure. They all left the same; they ruined all the rooms, not touching the men, kidnapping the women or leaving them there, on the floor, beaten."

Guan Yu pulled at his beard and then muttered thanks. "We'll find them and make sure they end up in jail with more than twenty strokes. Come on, Brother Zhang, let's go."

"It's way too early," complained Zhang Fei. "After we eat, at least. I. BEG. YOU."

After a moment of hesitation, Liu Bei remarked, "You're right. We all need to eat and obviously Zhuge Liang needs to as well. Come."

As the four sauntered downstairs, they had just happened to pass by Lady Mi and Lady Gan, obviously gossiping about Yue Ying.

Zhang Fei shot Lady Gan a dirty look. "Can you go one day without chatting it out with Lady Mi about some poor, pathetic woman or man in this kingdom?"

Lady Gan giggled, danced around Zhang Fei, exclaiming in her frightening tone, "You should see who the victim is today!"

A chill went up Zhuge Liang's spine. "Every time she talks like that," he began, shuddering, "Something bad happens."


	3. Chapter 2: Doubts

_Chapter 2 up! Enjoy!_

_Hehe, this chapter explains why this fic is rated what it is :P_

Birth Throes – Chapter 2 – Doubts

Staring at the stacks of scrolls and books in front of her, Yue Ying almost felt her soul leave her body. "Whose great idea was this?!"

Lady Gan shoved the books toward her. "Come on now, if you want to learn some things about this, you'll have to read about past births and maybe auspicious dates that can make your future son more important than the Prime Minister. Don't be shy, pull them all open! You're a bookworm anyway!"

Yue Ying looked higher up, noticing the scrolls touched the ceiling. "I can't do this in one day!"

"No one said you had a time limit," Lady Mi assured, "You have all the time in the world."

"I do?" Yue Ying asked, nervously. She stood up. "Well good, very good, I don't have to do this now, nor do I have to get pregnant anytime soon. W00t." She raced to the door, and just as she pulled the doors open, stood Liu Bei's younger brother, Zhang Fei.

"What's going on here?" he inquired, a jug of wine in his left hand. Judging by the redness of his face and the heavy smell of alcohol, anyone could tell he was already drunk.

Yue Ying stepped back. "W-What are you doing in the castle _library?_"

"Who says a man can't read?"

Lady Gan's eyes narrowed. "If any idiot couldn't tell that Lord Zhang was drunk, they could tell now!"

She directed her attention to Zhang and then said, "Since when do you want to read?"

"Since I drink!" He took another gulp, wine spilling on the front of his shirt. "What's going on here?"

Just as Yue Ying was about to say something, Lady Mi interrupted, "Have you heard what happened with Lady Huang and the Prime Minister? He wants something." She winked at the drunkard.

Zhang Fei hiccupped. "You mean a son?"

Lady Gan frowned. "What a guess."

"Don't worry, sister-in-law," Zhang Fei responded, walking into the room unsteadily. "It was my second guess. It's the second thing every man wants." He was just about to fall when Yue Ying grabbed his sleeve, causing his wine to spill all over her.

"Aww, dangit," he muttered. "My wine . . . the famous Chengdu brew! This is a hundred taels a jug!"

"You can always get another jug," Lady Gan said, helping him back on his feet. "Anyway, Zhuge Liang wants a son . . ."

Zhang Fei's eyes widened. "I can imagine how much jars of wine I can make off Yue Ying!"

Yue Ying wiped her face with her soaked sleeve, which seemed to make it worse. "What? I'm not going to bribe you to keep your mouth shut!"

"You must," Zhang Fei said, smiling. He leaned on Yue Ying's shoulder, the smell of wine hot on his breath. "A golden ingot will do."

Yue Ying held her breath for as long as she could, but then had to breathe. Once she inhaled Zhang Fei's putrid odor, she coughed and collapsed, Zhang Fei falling on her. She gasped for air and then choked, "Can't . . . breathe!"

"For two ingots!" Zhang Fei exclaimed.

Yue Ying coughed twice, and that somehow triggered two golden ingots to fall out of her sleeve. Zhang Fei stared at the ingots, stood up, thanked her and left the room He bumped into every maidservant he saw, some accidentally, some purposely.

Yue Ying sighed deeply and then whispered, "Ai, that's over . . ." She went over to another room to change and dry herself, the smell of wine filling the room.

"No it's not," replied the Ladies Mi and Gan, grinning.

"Oh dear, don't tell me I have to bribe you two as well?" The clothes Yue Ying was wearing before was tossed back into the Library.

"No money can shut my mouth, Lady Huang, and I'm surprised you haven't figured that out earlier."

"O damn you. What can I do so you can keep your mouth shut about this? It's quite personal . . . I don't even know why I told you in the first place." She came out, looking more as she always did.

"Nothing, except learning about birth, auspiciousness, and other things that fall along those lines," replied Lady Mi. "How does that sound to you?"

"Sounds . . . good?"

"Better be."

Yue Ying shakily pulled out a scroll from the bottom of the pile, because she was too lazy to pull one from the top, and started reading along, her eyes blinking more often due to fatigue. It seemed to act like an infection, as it spread to the Ladies Mi and Gan.

"This is tiring," Lady Gan said. It had already been a few hours since Yue Ying started.

"We'll come back with Ginseng tea," Lady Mi said. "Come on Gan. Let's leave the Lady to her work."

Lady Gan grumbled. "Now I have to stand . . ."

Once the two left, Yue Ying stared outside through the window. "Freedom!" she whispered, feeling slightly delirious after staying in one room for hours. She also felt hunger crawl through her, as she had barely ate before. She looked back at the doorway, then the window again.

Yue Ying pulled a rope from a nearby closet, tied it around the four legs of a desk, and sealed it around the window so that it could not fall out. Then carefully, she slid down with the rope.

---

Zhang Fei, still drunk, headed down the marble steps. He burped several times, sometimes expelling wine from his throat. It just so happened that Zhuge Liang was on his way up when Zhang Fei vomited more than half of the Chengdu brew on the stairs, some food from his breakfast pouring down to the servants below.

"Drunk? Already?" Somehow after the breakfast with Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and half-way with Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang's mood soothed.

"Water is wine," he replied. "Wine is water. Wine is slightly thicker than water due only to the grapes that make it. What does it mean to be drunk when wine is sugared water?"

Zhuge Liang laughed whole-heartedly. "Very well worded, Zhang Fei!" he exclaimed, patting the drunkard on his back. "I saw you come out of the Library. Since when do you read?"

"Everyone says that!" Zhang Fei muttered, trying to stand properly using the railing, but he had slipped on his own vomit and fell again.

Zhuge Liang pressed himself against the wall, trying not to get the discharge on him. "You're just not the person to read. Why were you there?"

Zhang Fei hiccupped and attempted to stand again. "Remember this morning Lady Mi and Gan said that they had a new 'victim'?" He reached out for Zhuge Liang's hand.

Zhuge hesitated, then just held out his fan. "Who is it?"

"Take a wild guess." He reached for the fan, his hand covered in stomach acid and wine. Zhang Fei pulled it to rise, only for his hand to slip off and fall upon his mess once again.

Zhuge Liang looked at his fan, feeling his meal earlier rise up. He clamed his mouth and he was settled again. It was a while before he replied, "It can't be Yue Ying, can it?"

"O my god, how disgusting!" Lady Gan exclaimed, staring at the stairs, the two men on it staring at Liu Bei's wives. In her hands was a steaming pot of ginseng tea and three little cups.

"I knew this would happen! Didn't I have a dream that Zhang Fei was clean?"

Lady Mi nodded. "Your dreams are the opposite of auspicious. That probably explains your dream where your precious little dipper entered your womb. Yes, that must mean good fortune for the little boy, but no skill."

Lady Gan agreed, "I warned Liu Bei already. His fault if something happens. Now, back to this," She stared at Zhang Fei and Zhuge Liang.

"Prime Minister," she began. "Why are you on your way up?"

He held out a scroll in his hand labeled _Fire and Water_. "I took this a few days ago, just putting it back."

"Let me go up first!" Lady Mi exclaimed, remembering Yue Ying was inside the room.

She and Lady Gan exchanged glances. Lady Gan ran up to the step right before Zhang Fei threw up on and then turned around. While Gan was running, Mi followed. When Gan turned around, she held out both hands. Lady Mi grabbed them and then she was flung to the top step.

"Ahh, talk about refreshing smell!" sarcastically remarked Lady Mi. "Gan, the tea!"

Zhuge Liang observed, "Why are there three cups?"

"Why don't you notice less?" sighed Lady Gan. She passed the pot to the Prime Minister and then said, "Pass it to Mi."

And Zhuge Liang did as told.

Zhang Fei pulled up Lady Gan's dress in another attempt to stand up, only being able to tear the fabric that covered her legs.

"You pervert!" she exclaimed, kicking Zhang Fei's face. "What do you think you're doing?"

Lady Mi, holding the ginseng teapot, was quite amused at the sight. She couldn't help bursting out laughing.

"Trying to get up!" exclaimed Zhang Fei, still drunk. He grabbed on to the next garment she had that was closest to him, which just happened to be another garment that was tied around her waist.

Lady Gan shrieked and kicked the drunkard again.

"Prime Minster," she ordered, "Throw me up!"

Zhuge Liang turned red, either because Lady Gan was half-naked in front of him, or because Zhang Fei was still on his pile of vomit. "I-I don't think I can do that . . ."

Lady Gan's face narrowed. "You woman!"

Zhuge Liang, feeling his manhood being threatened, grabbed Lady Gan and threw her up the rest of the stairs. Lady Gan didn't bother going to the Library; she dashed into her own room, slamming the door shut.

Lady Mi, calming herself down, went into the Library. All that came out was a scream.

"What's going on?" Zhuge Liang asked.

"Yue Ying was here before," Lady Mi explained, "But now, she's gone! The bitch!"


	4. Chapter 3: Decisions

_It took a lil longer for this chapter because I was working on _Sacrifices in an Empty Moon

_This chapter really focuses on Yue Ying's decision whether or not to have a child._

_Hehe, the last paragraph in this fic made me lol._

_Enjoy!_

Birth Throes – Chapter 3 – Decision

Sitting down under one of the Peach Trees in the back garden of Chengdu castle, Yue Ying's mind told her to sigh. The story she had read was about a mother and her son more auspicious than anyone thought. The son, of course, was born on an auspicious day, the mother dreaming of a dragon the day before he was born. The father was a no-show, for he had been married to the mother for quite a while but grew more pleased at "Happy Houses". The mother longed for him.

The son she had was named "Dayue" because he had been born when the moon was at its closest point to the earth and a date of the full moon, the fifteenth. It was indeed a promising date, since this date he was born was the same day that the kingdom was established. The mother was overjoyed.

Unfortunately, after giving birth, the woman began to suffer from a heart condition. She complained of weakness, dizziness and loss of coordination to the physician. He prescribed her many powerful drugs to cure her, but she just didn't heal in time. "I'm sorry," the last physician said. "But there is no drug powerful enough to stop an ailment of the heart."

She died three months after giving birth.

Dayue grew up to be a very powerful man. He excelled quickly in many arts. He was favored my many people in China.

The kingdoms China was divided into were finally united when Dayue turned eighteen.

A month later, he decided to join the government's army. He went to the Emperor and the emperor gladly recruited him. Dayue noticed the Emperor looked strikingly familiar to him, but he couldn't place where, so he just brushed it off.

A later day while dining with the Emperor, Dayue noticed the Emperor's oldest son who had looked strikingly familiar as well. Recognizing from where the emperor and his son looked familiar from, finally, he exclaimed, "The Emperor is my father! I am his eldest son! I should claim the throne!"

He and the Emperor's oldest son battled out for days. Dayue died a few days later, on the same day he was born.

Yue Ying shuddered. "How ironic." She stood up, stretched and walked deeper into the garden.

---

"I don't get it," Lady Mi wondered, looking around the room. "How could she have escaped?"

Zhuge Liang laid his eyes upon the window and muttered sarcastically, "I wonder how."

Lady Mi looked at the window, noticing the table with ropes tied upon its legs. "Oh, how come I didn't notice this earlier?" She went around the table and examined it, then the rope and continued searching.

"Any luck yet?" came the voice of Lady Gan. She re-entered the library. Once she saw Zhuge Liang, she turned red, pointed to him and accused, "You pervert! You don't want to become a father to a son; you just want to _have_ a son!"

"Haha, very funny," Zhuge Liang muttered. "Lady Mi, Lady Gan, you never answered my question. Why were you two and Yue Ying here?"

"It's none of your business. Just be a man already and help us," Lady Gan snorted.

Zhuge Liang took a look at the table. "Looks like something must have scared her. The book here is ... killed."

Lady Gan laughed. "Knowing the Prime Minister, he would give it a funeral!" She and Lady Mi continued laughing.

Zhuge Liang shook his head. "Why does Yue Ying stay around you all day?"

"She has nothing better to do." Lady Mi snatched the book Zhuge Liang was holding.

"Hey," she exclaimed. "I never put this book along with the ones Yue Ying should read. How did this get here?"

Lady Gan looked at it. "Oh this?" She took the book. "It's mine."

Zhuge Liang looked at her. "How did it get there?"

"I wanted to scare her!" Lady Gan exclaimed. "I wanted to see how she would react ... "

"Wonderful, sister-in-law!" Lady Mi exclaimed. "You scared the poor woman off!"

"Not my fault," replied Lady Gan. "This book wasn't a true story anyway. Now, Zhuge Liang, if she hadn't reacted this way after reading this book, don't you think she would be ready for a child? I thought the only thing to do to test her if see how she would react, and look! It scared her off! She's not even _close_ to ready! Give her another ten, maybe twenty years. She'll be ready then!"

Surprised by Lady Gan's clever maneuver and tone, Zhuge Liang sighed. "Maybe I pressed it on too early."

"O dear," Lady Gan said sarcastically. Her drama was completely emphasized. "What makes you think so?"

Zhuge Liang shook his head and cursed at the woman. "Obviously," he began, "You two will be absolutely no help. I'll look for her on my own. I have a strong feeling I know where she is right at this moment."

"Well ... fine!" exclaimed Lady Mi. "Two hundred taels of silver to the person who finds her first!"

Lady Gan tossed two hundred taels of silver on the table, followed by Lady Mi. Zhuge Liang, clearly angry, tossed a_ gold bar_ on the table.

"I don't have time for you two," he snapped, and left the room.

---

"O my god, so many problems come up when come when even mentioning conception," muttered Yue Ying, looking down from the sturdiest tree in the garden. "I'll call it _birth throes_. Yes, birth pains, that's the perfect word for the situation I'm in. I don't want to end up like Dayue's mother in that story. Nooo, that was scary. I don't want Zhuge Liang to leave me. That's even scarier. I would rather die of a heart aliment. And whatever happens, I don't want two people with even remotely the same blood to fight one another. Well, I guess when that does happen, we can call it 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms!' "

She looked up at the blazing sun of that day. It was spring, but felt like blazing summer.

"Can someone block that sun over there?" She muttered, shielding her eyes.

And then came a voice from below. "Ah, I knew I would find you here!"

Yue Ying glanced downwards. "Ai, how did you find me here?"

"It's pretty easy to tell when you've known someone for this long," he replied. "And I noticed you from the Library window. Lady Mi and Gan are complete idiots."

"I know. I only stay around them because they're clever. When they're not, they're either sewing, or cooking, or weaving, or whatever women naturally do. Like I know."

The sun and Yue Ying were at the same angle to him. He chuckled at her last comment and then asked, "Can you come down from there?"

"Of course I _can_," she replied. "_Will_ I? Maybe later, I'm lost in my thoughts."

"I need to speak with you on what I said last night," he replied.

Had it been someone else Yue Ying would be suspicious. "Can't we just talk like this? I don't feel like descending this instant."

"I'm slightly shouting," replied Zhuge Liang. "Can you come down? I don't want others to hear this."

"You know very well my hearing is better than perfect," Yue Ying whispered. "And so is yours. Come on now, at least join me."

"I don't think this tree is strong enough for two." He looked around it. "Well anyway, I'm starting to think we shouldn't have a son."

Yue Ying felt her heart skip a beat. "Where ... did you get that idea from?"

"I was with Lady Mi and Gan before and when in the Library, I saw the book you had nearly destroyed."

"I was just frightened, that's all."

"Yue Ying, what's scaring you?"

"The story is complicated, Liang, and I don't want to repeat it. Point is, I don't want you to become perverted or our son fight his own half-brother."

Surprised at how detailed Yue Ying's words are, he said, "You know that story was fictional, right?"

"It is?"

"Yes. Lady Gan told me herself."

Yue Ying twiddled her forefingers. "Doesn't mean it can't happen ... "

"All these birth throes," Zhuge Liang whispered and sighed.

He crossed his heart and then countered, his voice becoming lower and lower with each word, "I promise you, I will never stop loving you. And if I do, or if you feel like I haven't, Heaven may strike me dead that very moment. So be it."

"What?" she exclaimed. "Soviet? Like the Soviet Union?"

"I said, _so be it_!"

"So Viet?" Her eyes widened. "Liang, we're Chinese! Have you forgotten the Viets are south of us? What's so Viet?"

He emphasized the words again, making Yue Ying sound retarded. She turned red and the apologized. "You're right, Liang. Anyway, it would be nice to have a son around. I bet he'll flatter Lady Mi and Gan so well they'll run away from Liu Bei! If he's as handsome as you, Zhuge Liang, I'm sure of it!" She giggled.

"I guess I'll come down now." She looked down. Grabbing nearby sturdy branches, Yue Ying pushed herself off and then came toppling down on Zhuge Liang.

Yue Ying shot up in pain, her right hand on her back, her left on Zhuge Liang's face to support herself. She moaned, and Zhuge Liang would have as well if he could breathe.

And it just so happened Zhang Fei was walking by them, slightly sober.

"Ah, come on!" he exclaimed, holding a jug of Chengdu's finest wine brew. "You don't have to make a son this instant! At least have the decency to do it at night! No one wants to see your naked asses winking in this sun!"


	5. Chapter 4: Internal Growth

_I got a PM saying I neglected Guan Yu, so here he is!_

_Oh, and guess what this title means with the name "Internal Growth". Can you figure it out?_

_Enjoy!_

Birth Throes – Chapter 4 – Internal Growth

Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Lady Mi and Lady Gan watched the Prime Minister pace the lobby. He was shaking, sweating and scared.

"What's with him?" asked Guan Yu.

"Where were you these last three chapters and introduction?" muttered Lady Gan. "Do you even know what's happening?"

The warrior shook his head.

"Even I know more! Brother Guan, you should be ashamed!" Zhang Fei laughed. "Anyway, Zhuge Liang's wanted a son. These last few months he and Yue Ying tried to get preggy, but failed. Maybe one of them are sterile."

"_Preggy_?" Lady Mi exclaimed. "Zhang Fei, are you drunk?"

"A little bit, but it's my regular level," he replied.

Guan Yu stroked his beard and then continued, "I can understand why the Prime Minister wants a son, but why is he pacing the floor like that?"

Lady Gan replied, "I think they've been trying to achieve conception for five months now. Two weeks after they think Yue Ying ovulated, and well ... yeah, he's sent the Castle Physician Wang to check on her."

"Wang?" commented Zhang Fei. "He's a very eccentric man."

"O, I know," muttered Lady Gan. "He said he detects for pregnancy by taking her urine and testing it for a certain hormone. If it's there, then she's pregnant, if not she's not."

"What a very abnormal man!" exclaimed Guan Yu.

"Do you want to hear some of the past stories?" asked Lady Mi. "This could take a while."

"How long, exactly, sister-in-law?"

"Maybe two hours."

Guan Yu nodded. "Go ahead then."

"You'll love this. Ok, when Zhuge Liang and Yue Ying first tried getting pregnant, they seemed so excited. I _wonder_ why. Well, after that failed, they complained non-stop until the next month, and so they tried again. The second month they were convinced that she was pregnant, but it turns out she had just gained weight. That's _a lot_ of weight. They noticed that she wasn't carrying a child when she had her period two weeks later. O well. The third month it had just failed, the fourth failed, the fifth failed." She took her dear time explaining.

Zhuge Liang had overheard them and then, delirious, said, "Shut up, shut up, shut up. I'm sure of it this time."

Lady Gan sighed. Pointing to Zhuge, she said, "The Prime Minister's been saying that for these six months. When will he just accept the fact that he's no sperm to spare?"

Zhuge Liang, enraged, took Gan by her collar and then, with gnashed teeth, cursed, "If I ever hear you say that or something remotely close to that again, I'll make sure you suffered the same fate as the mother of Dayue!"

Lady Gan, already prepared for that remark, snapped, "Well, if that were to happen, I would have slept with you, now wouldn't I?"

Zhuge Liang already knew more than the truth. "Talk all you like, tramp," he muttered, throwing her on the ground. "Speak again and I will tell the entire _kingdom_ how you feel about a certain drunkard."

Zhang Fei looked around; noticing Mi and Guan were staring at him. Lady Gan turned red in an instant and then said, "He said how I felt about a certain sucker, Zhang Fei!"

"O! I'm relieved." He took a jug of Chengdu's brew and chugged it down.

Lady Gan turned redder and then said to Zhuge Liang, "How did you know?"

Laughing, Zhuge Liang answered, "Well you slut, I recall myself asking myself, "Why does Yue Ying bother staying with you two?" And now, I realize that Lady Mi blurts things about you more than you know Chinese Characters!"

He looked at Lady Mi and bowed.

"Thank you, My Lady," he snickered. "Thank you for letting me know."

Lady Mi gasped. "He's lying! I would never spread rumors about Lady Gan!"

"Oh yeah?" asked the drunk Zhang Fei. "What about the one of her and Zhao Yun?"

"No, that was me." Zhuge Liang smiled. "Try the one of Lady Gan and the midwife!"

"That was me," Zhang Fei laughed. "That got me choking wine out of my nose for weeks."

"Who are you people?" exclaimed Lady Gan. "I don't even know you anymore!"

"You can only blame yourself," Zhuge Liang replied, fanning himself. "And where did I hear the story about _you and Zhang Fei_? Why, I saw it with my own eyes. It wasn't a pretty sight, but if it's the only one I had, then I would take it."

Zhang Fei hiccupped. "When was that?"

"The night you were drunk and the Castle celebrated Ah Dou's birth. I saw Lady Gan push you into her room."

"How odd," Zhang Fei remarked. "I don't remember a thing!"

"Not after she drugged you, you didn't!" exclaimed Zhuge Liang, smiling at Lady Gan.

"I hate you."

"Yes, we feel the same way."

Lady Gan snorted. "You know if it weren't for Yue Ying, I would care less for you."

"You already do."

"Why you...!" exclaimed Lady Gan. "If you weren't the Prime Minister, I'd have your head!"

"You'd have my wife along with Zhao Yun and the midwife too."

"This is getting interesting," Zhang Fei remarked. "It's a shame Zhuge Liang's a man though."

It was another hour before Physician Wang came out of Yue Ying's room. "Prime Minister, Empresses and Lords," he said. "You had better come. Lady Huang complains of an ailment."

The five stood up, all in shock.

---

When the five reached Yue Ying's room, all but Zhuge Liang found it to seem very haunting. The walls were painted over a fresh shade of sky-blue, little toys and baby materials scattered throughout the room. Of the five, Zhang Fei seemed the most scared. He took his older brother's sleeve and hid behind him.

"All these men are actually women!" exclaimed Lady Mi when she saw Zhang Fei hiding. "What made me force you into my room that night confuses me."

"A lot of things confuse you," snapped Zhang Fei. "What are you straight about?"

"Will you two shut up?" Guan Yu muttered. "And let the other little lady speak?"

Zhuge Liang stepped forward and kneeled beside Yue Ying. "Did he test if you were pregnant before?"

"No," she replied, "Because as soon as he stepped in I started complaining."

Castle Physician Wang sat next to Zhuge Liang and said, "Tell the Prime Minister what you suffer from."

"Well," Yue Ying began, "First things first, I woke up with a powerful headache. Then when I stood up, I felt dizzy and the blood rushed to my head as soon as I did so. After that I decided to go back to sleep and rest again, but as soon as I lied down again, I felt blacked out for a few moments. Then the Physician Wang came in. Oh, this aliment pains me ... like _something's growing inside me_."

Zhuge Liang seemed to ignore her. "Physician Wang," he said. "What did you do exactly?"

The Castle Physician's eye twitched. He replied, "Did you hear her last sentence, Prime Minister?"

"Even I got that," Zhang Fei muttered, stepping out from behind Guan Yu.

"What?" Zhuge Liang asked.

Yue Ying sat up in an instant, slapped his arm and exclaimed again, "_It's like something's growing inside of me!_"

Even though she spoke that simply, it was a while before Zhuge Liang answered. "W00t! My wife's pregnant!"

Zhang Fei's eyes widened. He whispered to Lady Mi, "I'm sure I'll never say that."

"That's true," Lady Mi said. "But sooner or later, you'll have a daughter named Li Li, Mei Mei, or knowing you, perhaps Xing Cai."

---

"I'm fine, let go of me!"

"You're not going out to train under your condition!"

"For god's sakes, Liang, I've been pregnant for two weeks! It's not like eight months!"

"So what? If you train now, you'll have problems quitting later. I would rather you stay sleeping all day!"

"Sleeping all day will do me no good, and you know it."

"I meant sleeping and eating all day."

"I am not a baby! And even if I was a child, even they get freedom!"

Zhuge Liang was holding on to her left wrist for at least thirty minutes now. When he had seen Yue Ying walking out with a sword, it meant one of two things. One: she was headed to train, or Two: She was going to kill the Ladies Mi and Gan. Since he had seen Lady Mi and Gan headed up earlier, he was able to rule that out.

He was hesitant to letting Yue Ying train because if she did, there could be a birth defect with his soon-to-be-son.

"Liang, I just want to train just a little bit," Yue Ying whined. "I am to training as Zhang Fei is to wine. It's an addiction!"

"We all quit, for at least a few hours," replied Zhuge Liang. "You know you could damage the child by extensive training."

"The child is nothing but a fertilized egg now," she continued complaining. "One hour. That's all I ask. ONE HOUR."

"One hour is more than enough time to damage is brain and make him mentally retarded." Zhuge Liang, still holding her wrist held out a bow and a quiver of arrows. "You can strengthen your accuracy for these nine months, Yue Ying."

She took the arrows, slightly disappointed, but understanding of her husband's point of view. "Alright. I won't fail you!"


	6. Chapter 5: Complications of the Divine

_Turning point of zee story!_

_Haha, the name Ying Chuan ... Can ducks really fly? I don't know ... Have you read fire and water? What Zhuge does here ain't from the book, but it sounds like it O.o_

_Some 200 words shorter. Sorry! T.T_

_Enjoy!_

Birth Throes – Chapter 5 – Complications of the Divine

Raising another arrow to fit to the bow, Yue Ying pulled the bowstring back. The target ahead of her was a simple straw dummy, a target painted over its chest twice, one left one right, as if representing the areas where a woman's breasts would be. "Sexists," she muttered after the servants set up her target.

Her eyes narrowed and then the bow was pulled closer, carefully gripping the handle. By the handle of the bow was a gold plate, with the characters "Flying Dragon" imprinted on it. When her husband first laid eyes on this bow, he had said, "This bow is bad luck. No one should wield it."

_He must have picked this bow quickly for him not to notice,_ thought Yue Ying. She didn't bother going back inside and retrieving another bow; even though she hated training with a bow because of her low accuracy ... nonetheless this is still training.

She pointed her finger in the same direction the arrow was pointing. Looking with both eyes, she directed her target at the dummy's head, not the two large, very visible targets. The male servants who brought it out began laughing at the side, breaking Yue Ying's concentration. With one glare they all fell silent.

"Very wise," she commented. "One more noise out of you can you'll be drinking after Zhang Fei's ... wine accidents."

They ran away in fright.

Yue Ying was alone in the garden.

She lifted the bow once again. Archery was, surprisingly, a sign of either success or failure on her father's side of the family.

She recalled a moment in her adolescent years when her father explained the death of her mother. "You see, I was outside shooting random flying targets when I heard your mother's scream. One of the bandits already killed her. Furious, I took a poisoned arrow and without even the slightest effort or concentration, I felled him in one shot."

And her grandfather was there too to witness the story. He said, "Don't listen to your father, young child, that's not true! Your great, great, great, great, great grandmother Ying Chuan was walking by the market one day when she was shot by an amateur archer!"

"Come on," she said to herself, "What are the chances that'll happen?"

Never play a game that the Heavens will always win!

Yue Ying made sure the bow and arrow set and the target at ease when she was close to releasing. Right before she did, she saw a duck flying in the sky.

"Can ducks fly?" she exclaimed, redirecting her target. She did what her father did: Release an arrow without effort or concentration. As soon as the bowstring sang, the duck fell.

"W00t!" she exclaimed.

But she had spoken too soon.

As the duck fell closer to the earth, it began to grow ... longer, larger ... _scalier?_

A scream escaped.

---

Passing Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang asked, "Have you captured the bandits who robbed the houses' store signs with 'good'?"

"It took a while, but yes, brother Zhang and I have finished," Guan Yu replied.

"So where are you headed now?" Being a tall person all his life, Zhuge Liang felt intimidated talking to Guan Yu.

"I heard a scream outside," he replied. "Don't you want to check up on Lady Huang?"

"I did too, but I'm sure she's fine," answered Zhuge Liang. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"I would just check anyway if I were you, Prime Minister." Guan Yu grabbed his collar. "Come."

"Well, I ... ok." What else could you say to a nine-span-tall warrior?

Guan Yu, with one hand, pushed the garden doors open and then the garden gates. There he saw Yue Ying filling up a hole, rather quickly, talking to herself.

Zhuge Liang, upon the sight, released himself from Guan Yu's grip and ran to her. "Are you alright?"

Yue Ying turned around and sat on an area she couldn't cover of the hole. Shakily, she answered, "Of course I am. W-Why wouldn't I be?"

"What's under there?" asked Zhuge Liang, trying to move his wife out of the way.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"

"Then you won't mind moving aside!"

Guan Yu, feeling slightly afraid of the couple, ran back inside the castle.

It took most of Zhuge Liang's effort to try to move Yue Ying, but once he did, he felt his soul leave his body. "A DRAGON?" he exclaimed. He noticed by its eye was an arrow. He gnashed his teeth and then exclaimed, "YOU KILLED A DRAGON?"

"Shh, shh! They'll hear you!" Yue Ying exclaimed.

"You killed a dragon?" he half whispered half screamed, pulling his face down. "Why did you do this? You know how angry the Heavens will be at you?"

"They won't know," she whispered.

"They'll know!" exclaimed Zhuge Liang in a whisper. "The only way not is to destroy it from this world!" He ran back.

"Where are you going?" cried Yue Ying. "I need you here!"

"I'll be right back," he continued in that tone. When he came back, he had a jar of Chengdu's wine on him, probably stolen from Zhang Fei.

"For god's sakes, Liang!" she exclaimed. "You remember what Zhang Fei said in the last chapter? The sun's up! Not only that, I'm pregnant already! What do you want to do?"

"No, that's not what the wine is for," he soothed. Zhuge Liang ran over to the dragon in the hole and soaked it.

"What are you doing?" Yue Ying asked.

"After reading _Fire and Water_, I know how to light fires in an instant, but this dragon is too large for that. I need alcohol to enhance the flames."

"Wait! I heard dragon's blood can reverse the Heavens' wishes!" She took the empty jug Zhuge Liang held and then filled it with the watery mixture on the dragon's face, a mixture of wine and blood.

Then after that was done, with a deep breath, Zhuge Liang lifted his arms to the side of him then cried out. With the cry came a crackle of thunder, which immediately made the dead dragon burst in flames.

With a sigh of relief and the jug of blood wine in her hands, Yue Ying said, "Lets hope they never learn of this. Remember when Sun Ce killed an immortal? What'll they do to me?"

---

It was time for dinner. With an individual plate on each officer's little table accompanied with a small cup of wine, the dinner today was more merry than it was on other days. With the bandits captured, it seemed the Kingdom of Shu was at ease. Everyone was, except Yue Ying.

Completly drunk, the ladies Mi and Gan wobbled over to Yue Ying.

"Laaaaady," Lady Mi said, hiccupping. "Wuz wrong? Y'ain't drinkin'!"

"One day and I don't feel like it," she replied, folding her arms and looking away. "Is it that necessary for me to?"

"Take a drink a'eady," Lady Gan held out a cup of wine to the Prime Minister's wife. "Take a drink!"

"I said I don't feel like doing that!" Yue Ying exclaimed.

"One drink, and I'll embarrass myself in front of Zhang Fei," bribed Lady Gan.

"Make me!" Yue Ying childishly retorted.

Lady Mi hiccupped again. "I wuz hopin' you'd say that!"

"O dear," Yue Ying whispered. "I better get out of here while I have the chance!"

"Joo can try," Lady Gan said, looking wobbly. "There's no way joo can try gettin' away! This ain't the last of Lady Gan!"

Yue Ying slowly stood up and ran away from the scary empresses. Once she was outside, she breathed a sigh of relief and happiness.

"No Lady Mi, No Lady Gan, no problems!" she whispered. "I can't take much more of those two."

She stayed outside for too long, for Zhuge Liang came looking for her.

"Ah, I thought I would find you out here."

"Lady Mi and Lady Gan are too much of the common woman," Yue Ying replied. "Naturally, common women are scary." She turned her head. "Liang, you've been drinking!"

"Just a cup," he said, his face reddening from the wine. "Not enough to retract my senses."

And a voice came: "Wonderful!"

The two disappeared.


	7. Chapter 6: Mandate of Heaven

Birth Throes – Chapter 6 – "Mandate" of Heaven

"Where am I?" muttered Yue Ying, slowly rising. "How did I get here?" She almost lost balance. "What am I standing on?"

"Meeee," came the familiar whining tone of Zhuge Liang. He rose to his feet, which caused Yue Ying to topple again.

"This isn't funny," she said, holding onto Zhuge Liang's robe to stand once more. "Where are we?"

"I haven't a clue." He looked around. The area was dark and clear. In the front of the two was the yin-yang symbol, surrounded by the eight types of trigrams. Ironically, the trigram Kun was on top, and Qian on bottom. Liang was only able to see this after squinting his eyes for a while.

"Do you see anything?"

"This is odd," he replied. "Of the eight trigrams which surround the yin-yang symbol, the symbol for earth, Kun, lies on top of the one representing Heaven, Qian. Since when are the Heavens below earth?"

"This doesn't bode well!" Yue Ying exclaimed. "We have to find a way out!"

"Wait look," Zhuge Liang said. "Reading from left to right, the left-most corner, I see the trigram Kan, and to the far right I see Zhen. Kan and Zhen when read right to left is Zhun."

"Zhun!" Yue Ying exclaimed, feeling frightened. Tugging at Zhuge's sleeve, she said, "Zhun means Birth Throes! This really does not bode well, my husband! We must leave!"

Shaking Yue Ying off of him, he bent down and on the dirt drew this, in Chinese, of course:

Earth

Throes Birth

Heaven

After staring at this for a few minutes, he recited twice, "The Heavens below earth, throes before birth. The Heavens below earth, throes before birth."

"Are you trying to curse me?" exclaimed Yue Ying. "We have to get out! I'm scared!"

If Yue Ying was scared, anything could happen.

"Wait, we can avert this," replied Zhuge Liang. He walked up to the yin-yang symbol and the eight trigrams and then recited, "When the Heavens and Earth are aligned, the throes of birth are benign."

He held the right and left side and made an attempt to turn it, only to fail and sprain his arm.

"Let me do it," volunteered Yue Ying. She walked up to the symbol and then, despite her strength, could not move it. "This is terrible, what should we do?"

Then a voice of the Heavens spoke. "Huang, what have you done with the dragon of time?"

"Dragon of time?" asked Yue Ying, looking around, trying to track the voice.

"The dragon which was circling Chengdu Castle earlier today was found in ashes!"

"Oh, that dragon," she replied shakily. "You see, h-h-he was a little victim of my shooting accident ..."

"And why is the dragon burned?"

"That was my idea!" exclaimed Zhuge Liang. "I told Lady Huang we should burn the dragon because if she didn't, she would be discovered!"

"You will suffer for this!"

"Allow it to be me!" Zhuge Liang begged. "My wife's carrying my son now! I don't want two to suffer for my mistake!" He knelled on the floor, his hands below his head, locked.

"Let me, not my husband! He's an insane man! He has been drinking before we were teleported here! Don't listen to him!"

"In order for a new dragon to take place as the dragon of time, it will need one month in place of someone who is already at least twenty years of age. That person will then become ... immature. Are you willing to volunteer yourself again?"

"I am!" exclaimed Yue Ying before Zhuge Liang could say anything. "Do it before my husband says anything, quick!"

"Very well. The dragon will take your age for one month and will be ready to continue time again. As for your son, he will stay with us with the same nourishment you will give him. You will ... become immature."

"Whatever's fine with me, it was my mistake anyway!" she replied. "Please don't do anything to my husband!"

"One month. That's all. This is our 'Mandate'."

---

Zhuge Liang fell down on the back garden. Rubbing his sore backside, he rose and started back to the Castle. He encountered Lady Gan once he reached the parlor.

"Shokatsuryu Koumei, doko Getsuei?" she asked.

Zhuge Liang shook his head. "I don't know Japanese."

Suddenly, Lady Mi sauntered into the room. "Ji Gout Leung Hung Ming, min-dou hai Yit Ying?"

"It's Nan Yue," muttered Zhuge Liang. "I don't know that either."

Guan Yu was walking by, overhearing Lady Mi. "Prime Minister, that's not Vietnamese, it's Cantonese."

"Close enough!"

Zhang Fei walked in as Guan Yu left. "Kongming, nide qizi zai nali?"

"This is ridiculous, I get three languages!" exclaimed Zhuge Liang. "First Japanese, then Cantonese, finally Mandarin! Can anyone speak English?"

"Zhuge Liang, where is Yue Ying?" translated Zhang Fei.

"I don't know," replied Zhuge Liang. "And I hope they'll let her come back soon." The three weren't listening to him. The two empresses were poking Zhang Fei in the stomach, causing him to vomit again.

"Ai-ya!"

---

Having a headache caused by the wine and the odd events that took place after dinner of the day, Zhuge Liang threw himself in bed and sighed. "One month. You can last one month."

He seemed to be lost in his thoughts for a quite a while. Would he be able to deal with not having Yue Ying for a month? Probably so. Would he be able to contact Yue Ying? Probably so. Would he be able to Would he be able to sleep this night? Of course not.

He was a sleep in a jiffy.

After a few hours, he turned over, sweat beads forming over his face.

He was dreaming.

No, it was a nightmare.

"_Ah, my son!" exclaimed I. "Look at you!"_

"_I know," replied my son, whipping his tonfas. "I am strong, smart, elegant, but not gay. I am clever, bright, witty but not gay. I am stylish, quick, deceiving, but not gay."_

"_...Wonderful?"_

"_Father, I thought you would say that!" exclaimed my son, laughing. "Unfortunately, you will not see me at this age for about eighteen years."_

"_Dammit."_

"_You know the dragon of time which was circling around Chengdu Castle yesterday was coming to show you and Mother what I will be in the future. A shame you and Mother killed it!"_

_My eye twitched. "She killed it. I burned it."_

"_Close enough. Oh, did I mention that dragon would age certain body parts of Lady Gan as well?"_

"_Dammit."_

_Suddenly, he shrinked to a little baby boy. He cried, the two tonfas he was wielding on the floor nearby._

"_Oh, dear, don't cry!" I exclaimed,, picking up the child. "There there, mommy will be back ... in a month."_

_Then the child turned into Yue Ying. Err, Yue Ying turned into the child._

Zhuge Liang shot up, breathing heavily. "What was that about?"

There was a cry outside. A baby crying.

"What is that?" whined Zhuge Liang, rubbing his face. He slipped on his shoes and then came downstairs, to the front gate.

Near the gate was a basket, a pink-silk blanket inside it.

"It's too cold for a baby to be outside," said Zhuge Liang, who picked up the basket.

The basket was empty.

Slightly further back from the basket was Yue Ying's clothes, a lump of flesh inside.

"What idiot would play this joke?" snapped Zhuge Liang, picking it up by the sleeve. The lump of flesh slid to the other sleeve. In haste, Zhuge Liang grabbed the other sleeve and held both sleeves with one hand.

The lump of flesh slid to the end of Yue Ying's garments, the skirt-side.

"This is ridiculous!" Zhuge Liang grabbed the last ending and then sighed relief, the basket on his left arm, the three openings held carefully with his left hand.

Then, out of the collar, came a toddler's head. It was no older than the age of three.

It would be only Zhuge Liang who would recognize who it is.

"Getsuei!"


	8. Chapter 7: Impediments

_Sorry for the late update. I've been up to the ROTK TV series I foolishly spent all my Chinese New Year money on. :D_

_This chapter adds some more information on the child Yue Ying, referred to as Getsuei. It just sounds better O.O_

_I'll try to get the next chapter up; it's the climax._

_Enjoy!_

Birth Throes – Chapter 7 – Impediments

Zhuge Liang sneaked down the marble steps of Chengdu Castle, holding the child Yue Ying's hand.

"Who are you?" she asked, taking a great effort to step down each stair.

"Zhuge Liang."

"How do I know you?"

"Long story. Stay quiet."

"Wait, what can I call you?"

" ... Just Liang is fine."

"But that's your first name. Isn't that disrespectful?" The child held on to Zhuge Liang's robe.

"It's ok. Stay here and hidden, I want to look for something." He let go and sneaked down a few more steps, then ran up as quick as he could once he heard Lady Gan's voice.

"There's just something about Zhuge Liang I _really_ don't like," she said to Lady Mi, who was walking along with her. "He's so cocky and ignorant ... hope someone kills him later to pay for that."

"Don't say that. He gave Liu Bei Chengdu."

"Anyone with talent like that can." Lady Gan flicked her sleeves and began to walk with her head forward, as if thinking deeply on how to humiliate the Prime Minister.

After a moment of hesitation, Lady Mi replied, "How often do you find men like the Prime Minister?"

They were just about to pass the room when they heard a child's whimper.

"What was _that_?" Lady Gan called out to Zhuge Liang. She held her hands behind her back. "And why isn't Yue Ying with you?"

He was standing irregularly. "_That_ was Lady Mi."

Lady Mi scoffed and whispered to Gan, "I don't like him either."

Ignoring her sister-in-law, Lady Gan ran up and grabbed the banister, throwing herself on the other side. "What are you hiding?"

"N-Nothing!" Under Zhuge Liang's robe was a huge lump of flesh, as if he was expecting no one to see.

Faster than a blink, Lady Gan pulled his robe open, revealing a child, whimpering. She grabbed onto Zhuge Liang's leg and turned her face away from Lady Gan.

"Who is she?" Lady Gan asked.

"Your face scared her!" boomed Zhuge Liang, laughing. He fell off the stair he was currently on, his face landing in another a few steps down.

"Serves your right!" Lady Gan tried to pry the child off Zhuge Liang. "Who are you ... !" she exclaimed, grunting.

Lady Mi was the first to learn. "Gan, don't you get it? Zhuge Liang's alone ... and the child has manly strength!"

Upon realizing, Lady Gan shrieked and fell back, her head hitting the banister.

---

"You can't make me honestly believe this ... _child_ ... is Yue Ying. It's ... unnatural."

Lady Gan, with a long bandage wrapped around her head, poked the child sitting nearby. Yue Ying, annoyed, bit her finger.

"It doesn't matter whether or not you believe, it is true." Zhuge Liang pulled the child away from Lady Gan. "Go ahead and deny. It won't matter."

Lady Mi asked, "How long will she stay a child?"

"They said a month."

Lady Gan, shaking her hand, muttered, "Who are 'they'?"

"It doesn't matter." Zhuge Liang poked the child, who seemed less annoyed at him and started laughing. "This will be good practice for me anyway; it will test me to see if I am ready enough to be a father."

"And if Yue Ying bears a son or daughter," Lady Gan began, "This practice will be good for either!"

Zhuge Liang and the child narrowed their eyes and stared at Lady Gan. Slightly scared, she sunk down on her bed, pulled the sheets over her head and said, "D-Dismiss them, Mi."

---

"Haha, I scared her and made up when she scared me with that face!" The child marched down the hall, swinging her arms extensively with each step. "Lady Gan has a creepy face; all that makeup, I mean ... when she bathes, does she lose weight?"

"That's probably true," Liang replied, taking his time walking. With his hands behind his back and his mind still wandering on how do deal with this month, he suddenly remembered, 'What is this child to eat'?

It was as if she could read his mind. "Liang, I'm hungry."

What does a child eat? Well, when it is young, it doesn't eat, per se. It drinks. Does a three-year-old child still 'drink'?

"W-What do you want?"

"I don't know," she replied, stopping. She kicked her feet back and fourth until Zhuge Liang caught up with her. "What do we have?"

" ... What would you like?"

"Candy?" she asked ecstatically.

"No. Candy's bad for your teeth."

"Aww." The child's mood dropped dramatically. "But I love candy." She twiddled her thumbs, giving a depressed appearance to Zhuge Liang.

"I forget she's spoiled in youth," he sighed. "After all, she did marry _me._"

"What was that?" Yue Ying asked, arching her head up to see the Prime Minister. "What does marry mean?"

His eyes widened. "Why don't ... I make you something to eat while you go and ask Lady Mi? Sound good to you?"

Yue Ying's eyes glowed as she exclaimed, "Ok!"

---

Still with her exaggerated walking, the child marched down the hall until she reached Lady Gan and Lady Mi's room, which was near Liu Bei's. There was a small doorway from their room into his, but no one really passed through it.

"Hello!" she exclaimed, jumping on the bed. Lady Gan's head hit a tray which Lady Mi was holding; luckily, the tea on top did not spill. She set it on the dresser nearby.

"Uh-oh!" she exclaimed.

Lady Gan and Lady Mi would normally torture Yue Ying in some way – making it from blackmail of the many pictures they had of her and Zhuge Liang, all the way to hanging her by her feet in the Central Market – yet they couldn't do anything to a child, for they were already used to treating children with care. Don't think this counts for Liu Chan though.

"It's alright," Lady Gan mumbled, rubbing her forehead. There were small traces of blood on the bandage on her head, but it seemed to ease. "Why are you here?"

"Liang asked me to ask you something," she said, fixing her position and lying on her stomach.

The two Ladies exchanged glances, then finally, nodded their heads.

"What does 'marry' mean?"

Lady Gan spoke before Mi could counter: "It's what happens between two people when they … have affection for each other."

"O!" exclaimed the child, pushing herself up with her arms. "So you and Lady Mi are married?"

Lady Mi, who was drinking tea, choked and spat out. Lady Gan's eyes widened and fainted.

"Maybe I have to be a little clearer," Lady Mi said, pushing the child back to a sitting position. "The two people are usually a man and a woman – but in your case, perhaps, a man and girl."

"What do you mean?" the child inquired, tilting her head.

"You and Zhuge Liang …" she began.

There was another scream, the same as the one which escaped when the dragon fell.

---

Zhuge Liang was in the kitchen, directing the cooks to make something suitable for the three-year-old child when he heard the scream.

"Getsuei!" he exclaimed, running up the stairs and into Lady Gan's and Mi's room.

"Why must you call her Getsuei?" Lady Mi wondered, setting her cup on top of the tray.

"Getsuei sounds better for the younger Yue Ying," he replied, hoisting the child up. "Now what did you or Lady Mi say that scared the young one?"

"It was what you asked her to say," snapped Lady Mi, taking over for the unconscious Lady Gan.

Zhuge Liang, clueless, inquired, "What did I ask her to say?"

"What does 'marry' mean?" the child replied, pulling Zhuge Liang's sleeve. She blinked flirtatiously, straightened her clothes and made kissing noises. "MUAH!"


	9. Chapter 8: Child's Play

_I finally got this up! FINAL CHAPTER! (Epilouge comming!)_

_In this chapter, Zhuge Liang and Yue Ying face the FINAL throe; and it is harder than all they have faced. It wasn't anything physical, like the moment when they had tried to turn the trigram - it's emotional._

_It's emotional._

_Enjoy!_

Birth Throes – Chapter 8 – Child's Play

Yue Ying and Zhuge Liang were seated in the dining room, having all formalities from the servants to them said. Zhuge Liang was quite quiet after what Yue Ying had realized from before. The child was too young to understand this, and he wished that he had not mentioned anything before; yet it was already too late and there was noting the Prime Minister could do about it.

Yue Ying had been playing with her food. It was a simple bowl of rice soup, which had been surely mashed so the child would not choke. In the soup was random vegetables and meats. She had begun playing with this.

Taking a piece of meat and two carrots she found, she made a smiley face on the table, looking at Zhuge Liang. She smiled at him, laughing and pointing.

Eventually, the meal ended with Zhuge Liang, as emotionless as he always was, and Yue Ying, rather the child with a bowl of soup on her head and the contents on her face and shirt.

"Getsuei, you have to take a bath," he remarked.

The child threw her arms in the air, giggling. "Why must I?"

"Do you want to walk around Lord Liu Bei and his two brothers looking like ... this?" he answered, fanning himself, perhaps from the smell or the heat of just staying inside.

"I don't mind," replied the child, exaggerating her steps again. "I'll even do it on my hands!"

She jumped in the air and flipped, so when she landed she was doing a handstand. Yue Ying kept her balance and then cried out in joy. Though she could defy gravity, her clothes could not, and neither could the bowl that was on her head.

Once she noticed the bowl fell, the child looked at it, directly below her, whining. The contents of the soup spilled on the floor as well, and then finally, losing her balance due to the soup, fell down, her face directly on the bowl.

"MMMM!"

Zhuge Liang could not tell this cry was from her licking the bottom of the bowl or a desperate cry of help. On her face, Yue Ying fell down to the side, hitting the left side of her body hard. Unfortunately, when she fell, she had also begun to roll – all the way down the marble steps of Chengdu Castle.

Frightened, Zhuge Liang rushed down took the child and then hastened to his room, where she was set down on the bed where he could examine her injury.

"Are you alright?" he asked, pulling up the child's clothes.

With the bowl still stuck on her head – perhaps because there was no air between the two items – the child giggled. "That was fun! Can I do it again? Can you push me down this time?"

He pulled the bowl off her head, revealing a rather pretty child, who was too overjoyed about these things. _Radiance must come from these years_, he thought to himself while cleaning her face with a strip of cloth, which first met his eye – which Yue Ying had used to bind certain things when she was older; and it wasn't feet, for that idea had not come during the ancient Han.

Zhuge Liang had noticed a bruise on Yue Ying's side, which was already a dark red.

"This will stay for weeks on end if it's not let out," he whispered, looking in a dresser for a knife. Once he found one, he drew it and held it out to the child. "Forgive me."

Looking at the sunbeam from the window glistening off the knife, the child's eyes widened and said, "Oo, pretty!"

The image of a man ready to kill an innocent child came into play, but it was very clear that this was not Zhuge Liang's intention. Nonetheless, the child suffered an 'injury'.

The third scream escaped, similar to the one that the child had let out when Lady Mi and Gan explained what marriage meant, and when the elder, one-month-pregnant Yue Ying had shot down the dragon so long ago.

---

The child, still wearing clothes saturated in soup, whined as often as she could. Rubbing her side, Yue Ying complained to Lady Gan, "This hurts."

"And my head doesn't?" she snapped, being as careful and slow with her movements as she could. "Look, just lie down and rest. You'll be fine."

She sniffed the air. "PHEW! That's that smell?"

"Is it the incense you use to perfume your clothes?" thought the child, kicking her feet back and fourth on the chair. She grabbed her side in pain, then whined again.

"It's you, walking B.O," replied the Lady. "Go take a bath already."

"NO!" the child quickly countered, turning her head. "You can't make me!"

"Attendant!" called Lady Gan. With the sudden movement, she was forced to hold her head and hold in the pain slowly.

"Yes, my Lady?" asked the female attendant, looking surprised at the sight of Yue Ying as a child.

"Please, do away with the little one here and get the Prime Minister to bathe with her."

"Yes, my Lady," replied the attendant. Both of the two adults paused at the pun given in Lady Gan's order, but then the child Yue Ying was taken out.

---

"You have to take a bath now, Getsuei," Zhuge Liang ordered the child, running after her. "Come now, don't be afraid!"

"NO! I don't want to!" Yue Ying replied, running as fast as her little legs could.

She had manly strength and abnormally fast speed. Red Hare would have trouble catching her. Zhuge Liang, surprised by this, chased her into a small corner where she was trapped. Yue Ying looked desperately on all sides, then satisfied that a column was in front of her, began scaling it. Zhuge Liang caught his breath and then grabbed the child's feet; she was already half-way up.

"You have to bathe now!" he grunted, pulling the child.

"NO! I don't want to!" the child yelped.

"It's not like I want to do it anyway with the rumors Lady Gan will surely spread! Now come on, _child_, you know you smell and I think I'm the only one who is wiling to tolerate it for another minute!"

"NO! I don't want to!" she repeated, getting the better of Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang pulled harder, trying to pry the child off, but he had only succeeded in prying off her top robe. The child, feeling victorious, began scaling the column.

Zhuge Liang gnashed his teeth and rubbed his face. "Child, you have three seconds to come down."

"NO! I don't want to!"

"One!" Zhuge Liang called, raising a finger.

"NO! I don't want to!"

"Two!"

""NO! I don't want to!"

"Three!" Zhuge Liang exclaimed.

The child made no movement.

"That's it!"

Brutally, he punched the base of the column, leaving his hand bloody and a hard imprint on the column. The castle shook, and the column nearly fell.

"Do whatever you want, Getsuei," he said to Yue Ying, who was looking down at him, a hint of fright in her eyes.

"I give up!"

He flipped around, his hands across his back, and marched out, leaving a bloody trail behind him.

---

Later on that day, Yue Ying bathed, and was found with Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, the recovering Lady Gan and Lady Mi, all in the parlor, laughing and enjoying themselves.

Zhuge Liang appeared at the door. "Time to sleep."

"O wow," Lady Gan said, looking outside. "It's no later than eight! I would hate to be a child now."

"This doesn't concern you," Zhuge Liang snapped, still angry at Lady Gan. "Come, child."

Yue Ying, looking depressed, found her way out of Lady Mi's arms and then followed the Prime Minister. They walked up the marble steps. Yue Ying glanced at Zhuge Liang, who made no effort to check if the child was behind him or not.

It was a very short moment. Once they reached their room, Yue Ying went down on hers. Zhuge Liang still made no effort to check on her, for as she entered the room, he closed the door.

Four hours later, it was time for Zhuge Liang too to retire. He opened the door slowly, exhausted from the day. Another surprise had hit him: instead of the child sleeping soundly, she was sitting on the side, crying.

"What's the matter?"

There was no sense of concern in his tone.

Still a child, Yue Ying answered, "You said you give up on me!"

A child weeping was harder to control than an adult woman.

What could Zhuge Liang say at this moment? He was an honest man, perhaps too honest – which explains his inability to say things now that he had not meant previously. Sitting next to the child and rubbing her arm, he answered, "I was just angry before, that's all."

The child continued, "But that implies that you don't like me anymore!"

Zhuge Liang looked up, surprised at the realization the child came to. Then, relating to a statement he said before, he whispered, "I'm surprised Heaven hasn't killed me."

"Huh?" she asked, looking up at him, beginning to master through her tears.

"I said before, when you were older," he answered, "_I promise you, I will never stop loving you. And if I do, or if you feel like I haven't, Heaven may strike me dead that very moment. So be it."_

She looked at him. "Maybe they gave you an extra chance."

Once again surprised by the deep thought the child produced, he answered, with a smile well on his face, "It's worth it."

The child's eyes widened and glistened, reminding Zhuge Liang of the same woman he had married.

"Stay here," he said, going to a part of his room. He took out a large jug.

"What is that?" the child asked.

"It's wine." He took two small plate-cups and filled them. Handing one to his wife, he said, "Yue Ying, please."

"Why not Getsuei?"

He remained silent for a moment, and then answered, "It's rather insulting calling you in a name other than which you recognize. Don't you think so?"

"I don't know," she replied.

"Sometimes the plainest, simplest of things are the things we cherish most. To one maybe a plain object is nothing, yet to another," he took a glance over, "It's more than you can imagine."

"What does that mean?"

Liang laughed loudly. "You'll get it when you're older. Take a drink now, celebrate this moment!"

Ironic that he would not let his middle-age wife drink, and let a child!

When Zhuge Liang drank after Yue Ying, he had tasted blood – and recognized the jar of wine to be wine mixed with the dragon's blood!

He looked up at Yue Ying, recalling what she had said: _"I heard dragon's blood can reverse the Heavens' wishes!"_

The three-year-old suddenly changed to the adult.

Yue Ying was back! The mature one, the pregnant one, the one willing to shower at her wish – but something did not come back.

Zhuge Liang's eyes fixed on her for a long moment.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

A breeze came by the window, which was left open form before.

Feeling air in places it shouldn't go by, the adult screamed – like the scream which the child had made before when she was cut in the side by Zhuge Liang; like the one the child had made when she realized what 'marriage' meant; and the one the adult had made when she had shot down the dragon so long ago.

This time, when she screamed, it was accompanied by the laughter of Zhuge Liang, which soon came to Yue Ying herself.

They weren't laughing from any pleasure, nor the slow response Yue Ying had made once she had realized her child-sized clothes were no longer appropriate for her – rather the fact that everything had been finally restored.


	10. Epilogue

_Last part of my ficcy :) Enjoy!_

Birth Throes - Epilogue

Eight months later . . .

The whole company celebrated the "returning of the mature Yue Ying" in the back garden of Chengdu Castle; the people there were the Ladies Mi and Gan, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang and Yue Ying. They sat around a fire, made by Zhuge Liang of course, having mastered the book _Fire and Water_. After a flick of his sleeves and a snap of his fingers, a fire was lit.

Laughter and stories were exchanged.

Their conversations were hard to hear, except for the last one of the night ...

"You know," Liu Bei said, "When Lady Gan gave birth, she seemed to have more than a hundred times her regular unusual strength. Zhuge Liang, when Yue Ying gives birth, you better be careful! When Lady Gan was in labor ... well ... that's why I'm so virtuous. I don't want _that_ to happen to anyone else again!" He shuddered.

"O yeah, that happened with my wife too," Zhang Fei noted. "Somehow she had made this scar on my face with her pinky, the skin, not the nail!"

Yue Ying looked over at Guan Yu. "How about you, Lord Guan? What did Lady Hu do to you when she was in labor?"

Guan Yu hesitated but then replied, "She pulled off half my beard just by looking at it! Now, you especially should be careful, Prime Minster!"

"That's right!" Zhuge Liang exclaimed, laughing. "When Yue Ying goes into labor, I would probably lose my head!"

The whole company included Yue Ying began laughing, but shortly after her face turned a pale white in an odd expression and she was frozen.

Zhuge Liang, who was next to her, was the first to notice this. "What's wrong?"

Lady Mi was the only one to recognize the face.

"I saw this on Lady Gan before," she said, fright on her tone.

And she finished, "Zhuge Liang? Prepare to lose your head."


End file.
